Help with home cinema set up please!

[admin_exported]

I move house at the end of the month and will finally have a room which can be dedicated to a home cinema set up.

I don't have a huge budget and even less knowledge of what I need to do it all properly so any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Based on reviews from whathifi I am going to get the BenQ W1200 projector and am interested in the Sony BDV-N590 speakers, but I don't need the Blu-ray player..what are my other options? Are there decent budget speakers that can be connected wirelessly so I don't need cables trailing from the proector all the way across the room to the speakers? And how do I get around the problem of needing to mount the rear speakers at head height when the sofa is against the back wall that they need to be mounted on? Also, I am slightly confused - are 5.1 speakers stand alone or do I need an amp too?

Sorry for all the questions, I rather naively assumed it would be fairly simple to figure it all out and having now started researching everything, it would appear I was wrong...

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Too many questions need an answer really. What budget? Room size? Is it just for hc use? Layout? No bluray?? What 'cinema' are you intending?

 

[Anonymous]

My budget is about what the BenQ and Sony cost together - approx £1300. Room size is roughly 3.5m x 6m. Set up is just for hc use, yes. I already have bluray so don't need another player. Hope that helps you make sense of everything!

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Big room. Spend some time and money on some room treatment. Keep the seating away from the rear wall. Assuming yr firing down and not across the room. The projector needs to be fed from the amp so plan wiring accordingly. Hiding wires ahould be easy in a hc room. Check Dolby for speaker placement. Amp & speakers? Demo options from a dealer and then home audition. Room photo? Others will suggest kit to a specific budget. Good luck

PS. The.Sony is a full system inc bluray. In a room that size and designated purely as hc, I would want a muxh bigger & better sustem. If u have a half decent bd player I would suggest an amp at £400 min and 5.1 speakers for min 1K. Maybe take a look 2nd hand. Plenty od bargains out there.

Are u in the uk? I would maybe google some basics or visit a friendly dealer. Specialist not PCworld!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input, I'll check out your suggestions!

 

[RobinKidderminster]

As you are lucky to have a dedicated hc room I suggest really planning layout and room treatment. Get it right and even a modest system could sound good. Get it wrong and no amount of money will satisfy you. My sig li ks may help to get you started but a little diy is not that expensive. Good luck but remember I k ow nuffin'.

Get the kettle on. Im on my way

 

[Anonymous]

I'm still struggling to figure out how to connect the projector to the amp/speakers if they are set up at the opposite end of the room... as this must be a consideration for anyone with a home cinema set up, I'm surprised there isn't more information about it. Is there a sound/picture quality issue that makes wireless not an option? Or is it very expensive? I'm not having much luck finding second hand amps and speakers - is there anywhere other than ebay you can suggest looking? I really can't spend over a grand just on the audio set up for the room..

 

[drichardb]

I've just done a quick search (and i mean VERY quick) and the cheapest wireless HDMI links I could find were around the £120 mark which seams like an aweful lot of money to avoid running a cable from the amp to the projector.

Check out this section of ebay - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Home-Cinema-Receivers-/14981/i.html - almost 500 available at the mo, ok a lot are several generations older than what you should be looking at but there are nuggets to be found.

 

[Neuphonix]

I wouldn't be spending any money on HDMI wireless links, you have to have an HDMI cable long enough to do the job. Be careful though, sometimes HDMI can be a bit finicky at over 10mtrs.

Only question is how to get it there?

What are your walls made of? If you have plasterboard it may be possible to run it in the walls/ceiling.

If you have brick or concrete you could chase the walls, but this is expensive & messy.

Probably the cheapest way is to buy PVC cable ducting with the clip on lid. Various sizes available, just work out which is the best for the number of cables you want to put in it. Can be purchased at any electrical wholesaler.

Stick it to the wall with double sided tape, try to keep it in the corners or down around the skirting.

Certainly not the most asthetically pleasing option, but given your budget on the system I doubt you want to spend money on a professional install. Also has the benefit of allowing you to change things around if you decide the room/system needs to be altered at some point in the future.

Good luck

PS. are you completely sold on a projector? I had one but in the end the cabling / fan noise / lamp changing / ambient light issue / inferior picture made me change to a plasma. There are times I miss the size, but the improvment in picture quality more than outweighs this for me.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, thank you for all the input.. I am definitely going for the projector option over plasma - at least partially to keep the wife happy because she doesn't like the idea of a huge tv in the room - having an electric screen that we can keep out of the way seems to be far more agreeable! It certainly looks like wireless hdmi is out of the question, and I think I am going to have to go for an all in one speaker system that includes an amplifier rather than buy everything separately... I'd like to be able to spend more but going over 1.2k for the whole set up isn't really an option - plus the room it will all be in is directly under our youngest's bedroom, so there will rarely the opportunity to crank volumes up too high!

 

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, thank you for all the input.. I am definitely going for the projector option over plasma - at least partially to keep the wife happy because she doesn't like the idea of a huge tv in the room - having an electric screen that we can keep out of the way seems to be far more agreeable! It certainly looks like wireless hdmi is out of the question, and I think I am going to have to go for an all in one speaker system that includes an amplifier rather than buy everything separately... I'd like to be able to spend more but going over 1.2k for the whole set up isn't really an option - plus the room it will all be in is directly under our youngest's bedroom, so there will rarely the opportunity to crank volumes up too high!